Statement – Monsters Review

Definitely one for; any fan of Metallica, classic metal with a modern production and anyone that remembers standing legs apart in tight jeans head banging until your nose bleeds. ...

statement_monsters_cover

Genre : Classic Rock / Metal

Released by Mighty Magic

Web:

https://www.facebook.com/StatementDK

http://www.statementband.com/

 

Tracklist

Kill the times

Monsters

Say hello

Crawling

Keep you alive

Dropzone

Control

Childhood dreams

To be a man

Another stage

Back to life

Need to know

Dad

 

Line up

Lead vocal – Jannick Brochdorf

Lead guitar/vocal – Niels Alex Larsen

Guitars – Jesper Steen Noachsen

Bass – Martin Poulsen

Drums – Peter Thomsen

 

When thinking of Denmark, three things spring to mind; Viking hordes roaming across the country, Lurpak butter and most important of all…. Bacon! It truly does not get better than Danish bacon but let’s see how their music fares as well.

With a desire to play classic hard rock, seasoned musicians Jannick Brochdorf and Niels Alex joined forces to create Statement. With Jannick on vocals and Niels ditching his proven trade on drums in favour of lead guitar. The line-up was completed with bassist Martin Poulsen, drummer Peter Thomsenand finally guitarist Jesper Steen Noachsen. The background of all five members is very diverse (from death metal to melodic rock) and this mix of styles delivers an interesting result in the shape of debut ‘Monsters’.

With an intro track that evokes memories of Ennio Morricone and also a little piece of Metallica’s ‘One’, it builds quickly to a crescendo of guitars before launching into first and title song ‘Monsters’.

The groove laid down along with the crunchy guitars suggest that this would be a great band to see live and should attract a good mix of fans mixing hard rock and metal in equal doses.

Jannick’s vocals come across as a slightly more palatable Hetfield growl as he carries more melody and range than Metallica’s front man.

Lyrically, the album touches upon (according to Jannick) a time in his life when drugs, drinking, depression and tough party nights in the city, were a major part of his life. This is borne out by the track ‘Crawling’ as you hear of a lonely, solitary figure who no longer knows who he is or where he stands in life anymore. It’s got great lyrical content and paints a great picture of a man who is desperate for ‘one more chance’.

With the solid chug that drives ‘Keep You Alive’, the listener can almost see the band lined up on stage head banging alongside uniform guitar dips to the audience a la Scorpions. ‘Dropzone’ throws in the all too important air raid siren before Jannick borrows a few Hetfield “yeah, yeah, yeah”s to start the song proper. ‘Control’ dips into classic rock territory with so e great guitar work and a chorus that will bounce around your head long after the album has finished.

The format continues with the rest of the album, solid rock and metal riffs with gravely vocals being belted out and then introduces a truly excellent ballad with ‘To Be A Man’. The first half of the track builds very slowly with much softer vocals proving the point made earlier about Jannick’s better voice and range. The guitar and rhythm work gradually builds to a crescendo some two and a half minutes in before finishing with some powerful riffs and pounding drums from Peter Thomson.

‘Another Stage’ ramps up the energy levels again and throws in more of those “Yeah yeah, yeah’s” which sadly bring to mind the other band again rather than allowing me to focus on the quality performance from Statement.

Overall, Statement are a talented outfit and whilst this may be their debut, it’s clear the experience gained from other bands over the years has helped deliver a solid rock / metal album. The quality guitar work from Niels Alex Larsen is crying out to be seen and heard live. The interplay between him and Jesper Steen Noachsen gives the songs real depth with rhythm  and solos playing over and under each other and it’s in the live arena overall where I think this album will really shine.

Definitely one for; any fan of Metallica, classic metal with a modern production and anyone that remembers standing legs apart in tight jeans head banging until your nose bleeds.

 

Written by Adrian

Ratings    Adrian    7/10

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